Obama’s Cult of Personality
The U.S. presidential election campaign has certainly become more negative recently, with McCain’s side seeking to paint Obama as a man with past ties to dangerous American radicals and a propensity to increase taxes. Obama has responded with sharp attacks on McCain’s policy, painting him as a man who is “out of touch” with ordinary American concerns and in the pocket of big oil companies. Sarah Palin, McCain’s vice-presidential running mate and other Republican supporters have tried to raise doubts about Obama’s reliability, focusing on his ties to his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright and connections with unrepentant American terrorist William Ayers. McCain, to be fair, has distanced himself from some of his more scare-mongering supporters. He has recently declared Obama to be “a decent man and a person you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”
Let us hope McCain is right, and that if Obama wins, he will not be an extremist of any kind and will govern wisely and modestly.
What is scary, however—and this has been highlighted in countless YouTube videos—is the personality cult that Obama’s candidacy seems to have generated. Part of it obviously derives from Obama’s charismatic presence and his ability to conjure enthusiasm among supporters comparable to the enthusiasm of those attending a rock concert. But part of it must be attributed to Obama’s rhetoric, which has at times bordered on the megalomaniacal.
To take one famous example, in New Hampshire in January this year, he said, “By the time this [primary election] is over, a light will shine down from somewhere. It will light upon you. You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it.” This is akin to promising voters a religious experience. Furthermore, Obama’s promises of change are not limited to the U.S.; he has repeatedly promised, if elected, to “change the world.”
Credit should certainly be given the Obama candidacy for engaging record numbers of young people in the political process, youths who might otherwise have remained apathetically on the sidelines of America’s most important electoral process. But some of the youthful enthusiasm is really rather creepy. YouTube has documented it all. A group called "Sing for Change" created a video of 22 pre-teens in a house in California, all dressed in identical blue tee shirts, singing songs of praise for Obama that might have embarrassed Kim Jong-il.
A sample stanza:
We’re gonna spread happiness
We’re gonna spread freedom
Obama’s gonna change it
Obama’s gonna lead ’em
We’re gonna change it
And rearrange it
We’re gonna change the world.
Can anyone honestly claim that pre-teens would have done this themselves unless corralled by highly politicized parents and teachers? Of course not.
Even more disturbing is the militaristic video of black youths from Missouri chanting “alpha, omega” before marching into a room, swinging their arms and upper bodies back and forth in unison and announcing, one by one, “Because of Obama I’m responsible for being the next architect” or lawyer, chef, and whatever other profession Obama might have inspired people to go into.
It is an exaggeration to compare this cult-like adoration to performances of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s, but the parallels are disturbing. To demonstrate McCain’s affirmation of him as being “decent,” Obama might quiet down his more fanatical acolytes instead of putting some of them on his campaign website.
Dr. Aikman, a Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum, was for many years senior correspondent for Time.
6 Responses (comments are closed) • Columns, David Aikman, Faiths and Worldviews, Leadership, Society, Tue 14 Oct 2008
Right on!!! Cult of personality refers to the use of mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. This surely describes the Obama candidate and campaign, and the elite media’s refusal to evaluate and challenge Obama’s destructive and socilist policies.
What a load of crap. Republicans are desperate for something to hit Obama with, and all they have got is “cult of personality”. You guys are pathetic. Anybody with half a brain can see that the Republicans, with some help from the Democrats, have run this country into the ground. A crazy unplanned war in Iraq, an economy in shambles, injured veterans with terrible care, ...Get behind Obama, he is our only hope.
on 2008 10 28
Before McCain or Obama hit the scene, our leaders had the wisdom and discernment to defend freedom of speech…that’s the beauty of it and our nation…sometimes you are going to hear things you disagree with.
We still enjoy those freedoms today. I hope that if Obama is elected he will see the wisdom of those who have gone before and continue to protect our freedoms.
Neither McCain or Obama is the Messiah. Pray that our nation understands this…what I find so disturbing is that so many think that “change” is what we need, which does happen every 4 or 8 years anyway…but whichever is elected, that president needs our prayers cause our world needs more than just “change”. Even a child with a dirty diaper could scream out for that, again and again and again…
I think David, it might have been more honest to say that you are afraid that Obama is megalomaniacal, and a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You speculate, you cast doubt on his integrity - and it reminds me of the serpent logic of Genesis 3.
There is irony here - since the actual fall from grace of the US has occurred under GW Bush and his Republican admin - where the embrace of torture - the jettisoning of the Geneva Conventions - rendition, political appointments/sackings of DA’s, illegal wiretapping/internet eavesdropping is in fact parallel to the path of the 3rd Reich. All done with Charlie Brown sincerity of purpose. And apparently most visible to people like me who have come to citizenship from birth outside the US.
David Brooks has done a way better job of imagining life under Barak Obama - ultimately concluding he might be a little bit boring. It’s quite a different conclusion, and worth the trouble to read.
If anything is “creepy” then it is the tone and content of this article. Let’s take a look at the kind of language used in direct or indirect connection to Obama:
“cult of personality”
– a phrase normally used to describe totalitarian regimes or dictators
“Let us hope… [Obama] will not be an extremist”
– you can only ‘hope’? So there’s a risk he might be an ‘extremist’?
Obama’s rhetoric has “at times bordered on the megalomaniacal”
– of course, using the qualifier ‘bordering’ means you can link Obama to megalomania without actually having to provide any evidence
“22 pre-teens in a house in California, all dressed in identical blue tee shirts, singing songs of praise for Obama that might have embarrassed Kim Jong-il”
“Even more disturbing is the militaristic video of black youths…marching…swinging their arms and upper bodies back and forth in unison”
“It is an exaggeration to compare this cult-like adoration to performances of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s, but the parallels are disturbing”
– once again, like the ‘megalomania’ reference, we are told that a “Hitler Youth” comparison is an ‘exaggeration’ – but too late! The idea is already left to linger in our minds…
In a small article of less than 600 words, count how many (not particularly subtle) references there are to dictatorships and fascism. So let’s have a clear answer: does the author really believe that a comparison or analogy between Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama and totalitarian, genocidal war criminals, or popular fascistic mass movements of the last century is justified?
on 2008 11 11
Now that Obama is President-elect, God forbid he has to do it, but, after he’s ordered his first air-strike and there are civilian casualties, I’m a bit curious to see the reaction those that elected him ...how much will things have changed? Too bad the honeymoon’s already over and he’s only just gotten engaged…